


Race To The Top

by American_Oddysey



Category: Madness Combat (Web Series), Madness: Project Nexus (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Hurt, Violence, do. i really need to warn about violence., in this series, its 1 am, somethings gonna happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27627248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/American_Oddysey/pseuds/American_Oddysey
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	Race To The Top

Blooming pain shot through the nerves on Christoff’s face. The immediate shock resonating throughout his body, but settling on his now-broken nose. He was reeling, this was unexpected. He pulls his hand from his face, blood dripping down from his fingers. He stares for a second at the sticky liquid, glancing up at the perpetrator. The other two members of their party were staring in shock. It looked like Hank was, too, staring down at his hands. No one should have been surprised, actually, Christoff was telling himself that, but coherent thought was slightly more difficult with the intense, throbbing pain.

“Don’t-“ Hank starts to speak, but his voice is dry, and it sounds like he could hardly get anything out without his voice cracking. “Don’t fucking mention that. Ever.”

Christoff is confused. He’d talked about this subject before with Hank, and sure, while it may be a sore subject, it seemed like they were making progress towards coping with his trauma, but… “… Really?” Christoff’s brow furrows as he steps back. “You _really_ thought the best thing to make me drop the subject was to sucker punch me?”

Hank’s expression was hidden by his goggles and balaclava, though Christoff had gotten good at reading him by now. How his brow is furrowed and the refusal to look at Christoff, along with the trembling of his hands gave it away. He felt guilty.

“Of course you did. It’s just like you,” Christoff feels the anger swell up in his chest. He was better than this. “We’re splitting up from this point forward.” And maybe it wasn’t the best time to make executive decisions, when emotionally compromised. “Deimos, you come with me. Sanford, Hank, you two are together. We’ll meet up at the top section of the Science Tower, known as the Solarium. Got it?” His voice is cold and commanding, and Hank looks less than pleased with the outcome of his own actions.

“Christoff-“

“Don’t ‘Christoff’ me,” The doctor snaps, stepping back towards Hank, jabbing his index finger into the shorter man’s chest. “You need to come to terms with the fact that your actions have consequences. You’re thirty-eight, Hank. Act like it.” Christoff turns on his heel, facing Deimos. “I’m assuming you have the device your organisation gave you for the mission, correct?”

Deimos fidgets, taking out the tablet, holding it out to Christoff. “Ye-yeah, sorry.”

“I would suggest giving it to your friend, and not me.” Christoff steps out of the way. “My memory of the Science Tower is impeccable, we won’t need anything of the sort.”

Deimos seems to hesitate, but goes and hands the device to Sanford. The demolitionist takes the hacker’s wrist gently, keeping him from separating.

“Don’t you think this is a bad idea? Not-not because I’m stuck with Hank, but-“ Sanford says in a hushed tone.

“No, I see what you mean, you two are the brute force and me ‘n Christoff are kinda… the smart ones?” Deimos says in probably not the best way, which earns his wrist a harsh squeeze from his partner. “Sorry- we’re the tech guys. I don’t think that it’s a good matchup, maybe we should-“

Sanford stands up straight. “Uh- Dr. Christoff, Deimos and I were thinking that maybe we should split up in a different way, Maybe Deimos and Hank could-“

“I’ve made up my mind already,” Christoff says dismissively, waving his hand. He hadn’t even turned around to address the demolitionist. 

Sanford glances over to the mercenary, who was also trying (and failing) to ignore Christoff back. He kept casting glances over his shoulder. This felt weird. Sanford hadn’t ever seen this behaviour from Hank before. Uneasy, and not in the way of combat, more like a resting anxiety. Deimos tugs on Sanford’s bandana, “We’ll… be fine. We have our communicators, right?” Deimos smiles a little. “We can contact each other and 2B if necessary.”

“… Right.” Sanford nods. “I’m not worried about safety, though, I’m just concerned about how volatile these two can be. We already know how scary Hank can get but I have no clue about Christoff.” Sanford has some ideas, but he wasn’t sure if rumours were really a reliable source. Of course it was a fact that Christoff took down the Nexus Core fifteen years ago, but who knew if the Nexus Core was even a fraction of what it was today. It had recovered, certainly. And since Hank and Christoff had clashed so many times in the past and yet both were still standing, they were probably evenly matched. Either way, both of them were scary. Hank was unpredictable, and Sanford didn’t know Christoff well enough to pinpoint him as trustworthy or not. “Just be careful.” He says, though is trying to reassure himself more than anything else.

“I’ll be fine, we’ll both be fine.” Deimos punches Sanford’s arm lightly, though he seems just as anxious as the demolition expert. “See you at the top, bud.”


End file.
